OMG Secret Nazi — Aerial photograph showing swastika-shaped grouping of yellow trees in a German forest

OMG Secret Nazi

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Published November 9, 2026

OMG Secret Nazi is a YTMND fad from 2005 in which users photoshopped swastikas and Hitler imagery into mundane pictures of forests, gardens and revolving doors, mimicking the breathless news-article style of a real Nazi-tree discovery in Germany. The first page, 'OMG, Secret Nazi Forest!!,' went up on September 20, 2005. By the end of that year the format had spawned Secret Nazi Tetris, Secret Nazi Calculator and the inevitable Secret Communist Forest.

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Overview

Each OMG Secret Nazi page follows a simple recipe: a photograph of an everyday place, a swastika photoshopped or awkwardly highlighted inside it, a flashing portrait of Hitler, and a German-language track looping underneath1. Most sightings are obvious joke edits, while a smaller slice points to existing swastika-like shapes in common design patterns and plays the discovery as if it were real2.

The original Nazi Forest YTMND paired the 1992 Zernikow aerial photograph with the Blümchen pop song 'Heute Ist Mein Tag,' and the audio became a loose signature for later edits1. Each follow-up took the title 'OMG, secret Nazi ______,' with the blank naming whatever ordinary object was supposedly hiding the swastika.

Origin & Background

Platform
YTMND (naziforest.ytmnd.com)
Date
2005

The joke grew out of a real controversy. In 1992 German foresters near Zernikow in Brandenburg identified a block of larch trees planted in the shape of a swastika during the Nazi era, visible only from the air as the larches turned yellow in autumn2. German media and the BBC ran aerial photographs of the pattern in 2000, and the remaining distinctive trees were removed that December.

On September 20, 2005, a YTMND user posted 'OMG, Secret Nazi Forest!!' at naziforest.ytmnd.com, looping one of those aerial shots over a flashing Hitler GIF with 'Heute Ist Mein Tag' as the soundtrack1. The page spread inside YTMND's remix culture and the 'OMG, secret Nazi ______' title convention was set.

How It Spread

Within weeks YTMND users were cropping swastikas into anything that could hold the shape. Nazitetris.ytmnd.com placed the symbol inside a Tetris well, secretnazimotherinlaw.ytmnd.com ran it over a wedding photograph, and secretnazicalculatortrick.ytmnd.com walked viewers through a numeric trick ending in 'SS'2.

Ideological parodies branched off almost as fast. Secretcommunistforest.ytmnd.com showed a hammer-and-sickle shape in the trees, secretislamicnightsky.ytmnd.com flagged a crescent and star in the clouds, and omgdemocracy.ytmnd.com's Secret Democratic Forest rounded out the set. A separate YTMND titled 'Auf Wiedersehen to Secret Nazi Forest!' marked the German government's final removal of the larches as a kind of closing joke on the fad.

After YTMND's traffic faded, mirrored video versions of the Nazi Forest page circulated on YouTube, where the aerial swastika loop and Blümchen soundtrack are still watchable1. The 'OMG, secret Nazi ______' construction survives mostly as a YTMND-era artifact cited whenever the real Zernikow larch swastika comes up in trivia pieces.

Timeline

1992

German foresters near Zernikow identify a block of larches planted in a swastika shape, visible from the air each autumn.

2000

German tabloids and the BBC publish aerial photographs of the Zernikow larch swastika, triggering public outrage.

2000-12

The remaining distinctive larch trees at Zernikow are cut down, completing the removal of the swastika pattern.

2005-09-20

A YTMND user posts 'OMG, Secret Nazi Forest!!' at naziforest.ytmnd.com, pairing the aerial photograph with a flashing Hitler GIF and 'Heute Ist Mein Tag' by Blümchen.

2005

Follow-up YTMNDs including Secret Nazi Tetris, Secret Nazi Mother in Law and Secret Nazi Calculator apply the format to everyday subjects.

2005

Non-Nazi parodies such as Secret Communist Forest, Secret Islamic Night Sky and Secret Democratic Forest branch off from the original formula.

How to Use This Meme

A typical OMG Secret Nazi post takes a photograph of an ordinary object or place, overlays a swastika roughly fit to the scene, places a flashing Hitler GIF somewhere on the page, and loops a loud German-language track as background music. The title follows the pattern 'OMG, secret Nazi ______,' with the blank naming the subject of the image, such as Tetris, mother-in-law, calculator or revolving door.

Frequently Asked Questions